Large Hadron Collider is operational

The Large Hadron Collider was switched on this morning by scientists on the Franco-Swiss border. The LHC is a 17-mile underground ring intended to smash opposing beams of 7 TeV protons into each other, in an attempt to recreate the after-effects of the „Big Bang.” 

Built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the highest-energy particle accelerator is contained in a circular tunnel with a circumference of 27 kilometers at a depth ranging from 50 to 175 meters underground. After initial particle beam injections were carried out without any problems in August, scientists are hoping to successfully circulate a beam through the entire LHC today. 

Critics’ main fear is that the Collider will produce a black hole (or something similar to it) that will bring the world to an end. CERN officials have conducted a series of safety reviews that revealed that there is no cause for concern, the formation of a black hole being highly unlikely. Moreover, even if this worst case scenario were to become reality, the hole would be absorbed due to Hawking Radiation before it could do any harm, CERN scientists added.